DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

患難之交

简患难之交 · 繁患難之交

Mandarin · pinyin huàn nàn zhī jiāo

a friend in times of tribulations (idiom); a friend in need is a friend indeed

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

患: huàn · suffer, worry about; suffering
難: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
交: jiāo · mix; intersect; exchange, communicate; deliver
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · huan4 nan4 zhi1 jiao1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

患難之交 · find source passages ↗ · 患难之交 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waan6 naan6 zi1 gaau1

Cantonese word readings for 患難之交. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) a rock (a supportive friend); a friend through thick and thin

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack